Frederick Douglass Examples Of Courage

Courage is one of the defining elements of the human spirit. It is one of the driving forces of human progress. Without it, human beings would not be able to move forward and discover new things. It is through courage that humans ask questions and dare to seek the answer. Throughout American History, we see these examples of courage at work, but perhaps we see the greatest concentration of these events in the lives of the American slaves. For instance, Frederick Douglass is one of the most well known slaves in American history, and he faced multiple trials in which he needed courage to power through. In Douglass’s autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, we see that in the first years of his life he experienced

He was notorious for violently whipping the slaves that worked for him, and he frequently sought out Douglass. On page 79 of Douglass’s autobiography, after the description of a particularly brutal whipping, we see: “At this moment I resolved, for the first time, to go to my master, enter a complaint, and ask his protection.’’ In this sentence, we see Douglass’s sense of courage. In venturing to Master Thomas’s home to ask for protection, he is putting his life on the line. He has not the faintest idea how Master Thomas will react to his request. Even his return is dangerous. When he finds himself back at the plantation, we see Douglass having to hide in a cornfield from Covey’s wrath. The night after hiding from covey all day in the woods, he became acquainted with a slave called Sandy Jenkins. Sandy jenkins told Douglass of a root that would prevent him from ever being whipped if he always kept it in his right pocket. Douglass, however skeptical, he took Jenkin’s advice and kept the root in his right pocket. That morning Douglass found that Covey had an almost peaceful disposition toward him, but, shortly after, we see Covey’s attitude toward Douglass change, “Covey entered the stable